COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (June 30, 2016) Food For The Poor is celebrating 25 years of dedicated service in Guyana, which began with the delivery of food and basic items in June of 1991. Since then, the international relief and development organization has become the leading provider of aid to the people of Guyana, shipping 171 tractor-trailer loads of food, medicine, health care items and educational supplies to the Food For The Poor-Guyana distribution center in Georgetown.

"In the beginning the primary focus of Food For The Poor was to meet the immediate needs of the truly destitute. But we wanted to do more, we wanted to help the poor in Guyana to rise out of poverty," said Robin Mahfood, President/CEO of Food For The Poor. "Housing, self-sustaining projects and education now are the priorities of this organization."

Last week, Mahfood attended a special anniversary ceremony in Georgetown, Guyana, where the country's president, David Granger, greeted and thanked Food For The Poor for the work they've done in 25 years to help Guyanese families in need.

"From a social point of view, the housing program has been able to keep families together. Without housing, families would not be able to stay together, and once families fall apart, society falls apart," said Guyana's President Granger.

Guyana is a lush tropical country that's bordered by Brazil, Suriname and Venezuela. Named after an Amerindian word meaning "land of many waters," Guyana isn't an easy country to navigate by land, but Food For The Poor has persevered and built a total of 3,267 housing units and five schools across the region since inception.

The charity also has delivered more than 900 computer workstations to community centers, schools and other teaching institutions. Food For The Poor also works with 11 orphanages as part of the Angels Of Hope program. Through this program, 229 children receive shelter, an education and loving care.

"Education is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty, and our efforts towards education will set these children on a new path to success by providing them with the skills they need. We also want to continue to expand our projects with pumps that provide clean water to those in remote areas and to bring solar-light to those who have no access to electricity," said Mahfood. "None of this would be possible without the loving support of our donors and the support of the Food For The Poor staff. I would like to thank and remember Mr. Leon Davis for his 21 years of service to the poor as the Executive Director from the incorporation of Food For The Poor-Guyana, and the current CEO, Kent Vincent."

Food For The Poor, one of the largest international relief and development organizations in the nation, does much more than feed millions of the hungry poor in 17 countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. This interdenominational Christian ministry provides emergency relief assistance, clean water, medicines, educational materials, homes, support for orphans and the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance, with more than 95 percent of all donations going directly to programs that help the poor. For more information, please visit www.FoodForThePoor.org.

Over the last 10 years, fundraising and other administrative costs averaged less than 5% of our expenses; more than 95% of all donations, including donated goods, go directly to programs that help the poor.